If someone else wants to pay the kid and roll that way, its fine - I'm just having a role playing hangup here. No way in hell Mr. White is going to pay him 100% up front. He could have "Super Honest!" tattoo'd on his forehead and White would still tell him to get stuffed.

Otherwise, I'm inclined even to negotiate with a local street gang to get someone to guide us.

For anyone interested, the problem that Mr. White has with this arrangement is

Totally get where you're coming from. Suppose we could grab him, get some blood or spit, and tell the little fucker that if he's not upfront and either ditches us or leads us into a trap we'll just melt his brain with ritual magic later.

Mr. White is so untrusting. What more reason does Pip need to keep his word than simply it being his word? I'm shock I tell you, down right hurt even that you might suggest he has anything other than truth behind is words.

In all seriousness though, you are welcome to try asking the surly locals for directions, or try finding another guide from some gang or otherwise, or just start wandering the tunnels on your own, or Gardner can call up another Spirit to try sending it off to look for Fiona again. These are all listed as options in the Mission. Pip is just the one it throws out as an easy suggestion to get you through quickly.

I assume somebody is going to try keeping track of the path Pip is taking you through?

Also, feel free to give me a few perception rolls anybody that is concerned about their safety with all the horror stories Pip is regaling you with.

Can't our commlinks track the path?

Perception test: 5D6E5 => 2

Was Gardner going to do some healing checks?

If you have a Mapping program, yes. If not? No.

Lol.

2012 Smartphones > 2072 Commlinks.

Your iPhone creates a map of underground tunnels without any program at all? That's amazing. I had no idea.

1. Don't have Tracking, Navigation, or any software to assist so TW is unfortunately stuck with following the guide.

2. How many Perception rolls do you want? TW is going to be paying close attention to their surroundings, even without Pip's stories. As far as he's concerned he's in enemy territory and could be ambushed at any second.

Just throw a couple out there. The trek is going to take a while its a little over 20km from the Tourist Highway to the Pirate's Cove, and that's if it were a straight line. Going through winding tunnels adds a good bit more distance to the journey.

Intuition 4 + Perception 3 + Vision Enhancement 3 + Actively Looking/Listening 3 (2 rolls) = 4 hits, both times.

Also, 20+ km? That's a long trek, especially in unfamiliar territory. As in, long enough that we should have brought gear to stop overnight as necessary. How is that chair powered, Legs? Does it need recharging daily? Weekly? Onboard nuke plant?

Yes, I'm going to do some healing. But I don't have my character with me right now so I'd rather not mess stuff up. I'll be able to roll it when I get home from work in a few hours. (Sorry I forgot to do it yesterday.)



Does a Rating 6 Mapsoft of Seattle help at all? I figure at the very least it might be able to tell us where we are in relation to the aboveground geography, and maybe leave a trail if someone keeps an eye on it? If we can do something like that, I'll throw the datachip with the program on it over to one of our techy people.



20 km is about a 4 hour walk, so maybe 6 hours with curves and crowds and everything? I think the battery time on a drone is 6 hours baseline. So Legs might need a recharge station if he didn't install something that lets him go longer without a recharge (there are several upgrades that help with that...)

It's less than the distance of a marathon. Surely active runners like you can handle that?
Actually, every once in a while the path Pip is guiding you on comes across a "town". Alternatively, you guys could rent bicycles or maybe scooters to travel around, there are even a few ancient Segways available. Prices vary depending on the conveyance and where/when you're planning to return them 50-250nuyen per runner.

A Mapsoft, won't be that much help. It could show you where you are in relation to the regular city, but the "path" Pip is leading on goes up and down multiple levels of terrain, sometimes seems to circle back on itself, and so on.

I'm just planning to handwave the drones' battery. So don't worry about that.

Sorry, I don't normally do 12-13 mile hikes carrying gear in unfamiliar territory, so I figured it would take longer than 4-6 hours. Carry on, then.

Guess I could post some reactions to your Perception tests. About an hour into the trek, you are thoroughly lost about how you got there or where exactly you are but you are keeping sharp lookout for any treachery. As you are moving forward, you begin to feel a rumbling in the ground and a moment later you can hear an accompanying sound from up ahead. And are those voices you hear?

You gesture for everybody to be silent and listen. A flash of panic comes over Pip as his head starts swiveling around to hear better.....
After a few moments of confusion where you try to tell him what you are hearing it suddenly dawns on him. He tells you that's just the underground river up ahead and the "voices" are some harmless creatures that live down here.

20 minutes later Pip suddenly stops ahead of you. You can hear some chittering sounds down the tunnel you were heading down. Pip's eyes are wide when you start ask what that sound is he quickly covers up your mount with his tiny hand. Shaking his head and gesturing for silence. He looks around and then gestures for everybody to climb up into a tunnel that is set a couple feet off the ground. He quickly leads the way up trying to be as quiet as possible. Gardner has to pickup Legs drone and all to get him up the 3 or 4 feet to the tunnel's opening. Seconds after you guys make up a short distance you look back down the tunnel as a massive swarm of countless devil rats go through the tunnel you were just in.

A minute passes as you just huddle in the enclosed space. A couple stragglers come up, sniff at the tunnel entrance before heading on to join the rest of their pack.

Pip waits a solid 5 minutes, slapping at anybody that tries to speak or even move before climbing back down and then leading you off in a completely different direction than you were going before.

Things like this seem to happen with some frequency. You can always tell when Pip is leading you through an uncertain area because his constant flow of stories slows down and he starts paying closer attention to the tunnels you pass.

First Aid on Gardner: 3 Hits (Capped at 2)

First Aid on Tundra Wolf: 1 Hit

First Aid on Mr. White: 2 Hits

Heal Spell on Tundra Wolf: 1 Hit

Drain Resistance: 3 Hits (0 damage)

Heal Spell on Mr. White: 5 Hits

Drain Resistance: 1 Hit (0 damage)

Gardner Heals 2 Boxes of Stun Damage

Tundra Wolf Heals 2 Boxes of Physical Damage

Mr. White Heals up to 7 Boxes of Physical Damage


Gardner will also Summon a Force 6 Plant Spirit to use in the near future.

Summoning Test: 4 Hits

Drain Resistance: 4 Hits

Perception test: 2 Hits

The Spirit rolled 2hits. So it owes you two services and you resisted the drain.

Your two hits on perception didn't get you much. At one of the towns you stop at, you spotted the gang colors of the Skraacha, but nothing comes of it.

Hey guys, sorry I've been silent, finals week coming up. Odds are my time popping in will be a little spotty at best. At this point, well, everything that's happened is fine by Quixote. He'll take the rear of the group following the kid, gonna try and be all sneaky-like while I'm at it in case we come up on some trouble. Might be handy being able to get the drop on something.

Infiltration, folks are at a -4 dice pool (away from book, please double check number, SR4A 326) to their perception checks to spot me due to the chameleon suit

Infiltration (3) + Agility (7) + Enhanced Articulation (1) (11d6.hits(5)=3)

Couple of perception checks for giggles

Perception (1) + Intuition (3) + Vision Enhancement (3) (7d6.hits(5)=3, 7d6.hits(5)=4, 7d6.hits(5)=4, 7d6.hits(5)=2)

Damn, you were actually able to get hits on that spell for TW? Awesome, figured his fragged aura would have made the spell fizzle. So, no more dice penalties for TW (until he gets shot or stabbed again, natch).

Sorry for the delay. I've been rather busy with work and being sick lately. Anyway, I suppose iIve gotten even Perception tests from everybody.

Nobody scored well enough to spot the Ghost Gator that has been stalking you for the last several minutes now. The beast is completely silent as it strikes at Quixote who was bringing up the rear and it is quite difficult to see.

As this is a surprise attack, Quixote can't defend against it, but you can still roll Impact Armor + Body to resist the 10P -2AP damage from the bite.

And everybody can roll Initiative.

The gator did well enough on its perception to spot me? *awe*

8d6.hits(5)=2

Dang...so that's 8P damage to me. Bastard gator.

Ouch indeed! And yeah, it smelled you following behind everybody with its enhanced senses and quite excellent Perception rating. Figured you would be the easiest target behind the large group. Just be glad it only scored 2 hits on its attack.

Legs Initiative (9) = 3 hits - Initiative total 12, 1 pass

Rover Initiative (6) = 1 hit - Initiative total 7, 3 passes

Quixote Initiative: Reaction (2) + Intuition (3) + Improved Reflexes (2) - Wound Modifier (2) (5d6.hits(5)=1)

Total of 6, 3 passes

Still waiting on everybody else's Init rolls.

Currently:
Legs 12 - 1 Pass
Ghost Gator 12 - 2 Passes
Doberman Drone 7 - 3 Passes
Quixote: 6 - 3 Passes

Sorry, I've been away from computer for the weekend.

I don't think Gardner had any reason to drop his Increase Reflexes spell, so assuming that's still up:

Initiative 7 + 2 (spell) - 1 (wounds) + 2 hits = 10 Initiative; 3 passes

Can you glitch initiative?

6D6E5 => 0 | ones: 1

Reaction 4 + Intuition 4 = 3 hits. Initiative 11, 1 pass since I stupidly didn't say that TW would have turned his reflexes back on when they entered the Underground. Sorry, apparently I'm off my game.

You only glitch if half your dice are ones. So no worries.

I've had to go out of town suddenly. So I'm not going to be able to post much for the next couple days.

Righto, see you when you get back.

Have a safe trip, we'll be waiting.

What they said.

I have to apologize in advance - my youngest decided today would be a good day to drop daddy's computer on the floor, and now my hard drive has to be replaced. It'll be a couple days before I can post.

Ok. I'm finally back, but it's just in time for Forces In Motion to be away.

It looks like the initiative order is going to be:
Plant Spirit - I'll say Gardner can give him a command as a free action in order for him to get a chance at the Ghost Gatore before it kills somebody.
Legs
Ghost Gator
Tundra Wolf
Gardner
Doberman Drone
Quixote
Mr. White.

I's dead. *starts working on his gator wrestling Ork Underground citizen backup character*

Hope that plant can bind up that gator so we can blow it away before we get taek playing a character with a banjo and two teef.

Actually, you took enough damage from that first bite that you got knocked to the ground out of the immediate reach of the Gator. It will have to come out of the tunnel it was hidden in if it wants to attack you again. Plus, you'll get to defend too.
It had only gotten 2 successes on the attack, if it wasn't a surprise you'd have blocked it without too much difficulty.

Ah, right, the Plant Spirit.

For the record, its initiative is 12 + 2 hits -> 14 total; 2 Passes

I'm not sure if it's feasible for the Plant Spirit to have been following us around while materialized, so it probably has to spend it's first pass showing up (Materialization is a Complex Action). But it will do that between the group and the Gator.

At first chance it will use the Engulf power on the Gator: Melee Attack -> 4 hits. DV: 6S + net hits resisted by Body+half Impact. If it is successful, the Gator can't move. It can try to break out by making an Opposed Test using its Strength+Body.


Technically, calling and commanding the spirit is a Simple Action each, so I understand if you want me to give up my action of the first Pass.

Gardner, when he has a chance will hit the Gator with a Stunbolt Force 7. Spellcasting: only 1 hit (darn wound modifiers). Drain: 5 hits (grr! at least no damage even if it doesn't manage to resist).

I'm saying the Spirit was already materialized and giving you a free command action (the beast is going to be hard enough as is). So your plant spirit sends out ropy vines to pull the giant Gator into being Engulfed.... And without growl or any other sound coming from it, the Gatorade snaps and claws its way free before the vines can get any purchase on it. (He got 5 hits on his parry roll).

At least the spirit is between the group and it now.

--------------

Time for Legs turn.

Oh and I guess I will go ahead and post the Gator's actions since it goes at the same time as Legs. It snaps out at the plant spirit getting 4 hits on 8P -2AP damage.

The spirit got 3 hits on its dodge, so it would take 9P -2 AP. It has Hardened Armor 12 against non-magical attacks. So it takes no damage.

Not looking at my book right now but hardened armor is equal to its magic rating which is the spirits force(6) unless the plant spirits are drasticly different from other spirits that I remember. So you do still need to resist damage.

Actually I don't even see Hardened Armor as an optional power for Plant Spirits. So how does your spirit have the Hardened Armor Power?

Sorry, I had meant to add the phrase "has Immunity to Normal Weapons which gives it..." right before I mentioned the armor. The Materialization Power gives that. The armor value given from immunity is equal to twice the critter's Magic (spirit's force).

What about an awakened giant ghost gator makes you think anything about it's teeth would be considered a Normal Weapon? This thing could have attacked the Spirit even before it materialized.

So. The spirit does need to roll to resist damage with just its Body rating since it doesn't have any actual armor.

So, my pass next?

Free: Activate wired reflexes, Initiative moves to 13 with 3 IPs.
Simple: Ready AK-97 (shoulder it to take advantage of shock pad, smartlink comes online, safety off)
Simple: Long burst (narrow). Any negative modifiers I should know about before I roll, Slacker?

Let's say a -1 for how crowded the tunnel is. We didn't specify what order all of you are in, but that spirit is certainly taking up most of the visible space between you and the gator so some sort of penalty is in order.

Sorry, didn't think/know that a straight up Bite would be considered a Magical attack.

The spirit is going to go ahead and spend an Edge to augment its damage resistance. It gets 7 hits, taking 2 damage.